PEABODY — Matt Karakoudas calls his junior guard, Jacob Klass, “a Top 10 boys basketball players in the state, hands down.”
The sharpshooting southpaw certainly played the part in Friday night’s season opener.
Klass, a team captain, scored 32 points and helped Beverly High out to an early lead it would never relinquish, cruising to a 77-41 victory over host Peabody before a festive crowd at the PVMHS Fieldhouse.
“There were some publications that came out with their players to watch this year, and Jacob wasn’t mentioned. I know that bothered him,” Karakoudas, the Panthers’ head coach, stated. “He came out and showed why he should be on everyone’s list.”
Whether it was pulling up from far beyond the 3-point arc, slashing to the basket, grabbing five rebounds, drawing double teams before kicking out to a wide open teammate, or guarding Peabody’s top offensive threat, Jariel Tolentino, the 5-foot-11 Klass left a major imprint on the game’s outcome. He had 20 points by halftime as the Panthers took a 30-point advantage (46-16) into the break.
Peabody, which graduated four starters and its sixth man from last year’s Northeastern Conference Dunn champions, was admittedly nervous to start, said head coach Thad Broughton, and Beverly capitalized on that.
“It was a good wakeup call for us. There are a lot of things we have to get better at,” Broughton, whose team was not able to scrimmage in the shortened preseason, said. “But I do believe Beverly’s a really strong team, too. They really poured it on us tonight.”
Another junior captain for Beverly, Danny Pierce, was a presence at both ends of the court and finished with 11 points and seven assists in the win. The Panthers’ third captain, senior forward Will Ryan, added nine points.
The Orange-and-Black were able to empty their bench and saw 10 of their 12 players score, including the first varsity points for freshmen Benjamin Doughty (on a 3-pointer) and Constantin Panda (5 points), as well as French exchange student Gabriel Djebril Jean El Hachemi (5 points).
“For some reason we’ve never shot well here during my time in Beverly,” Karakoudas said of the Peabody gym. “Luckily we came out and started hitting some shots right away tonight, which is always great on the road.
“You never know what you’re going to get in your first game,” he added, “but we couldn’t have asked for much more from Night 1.”
A free throw by Aggaest Kalombo got the Tanners within a point (10-9) midway through the first quarter before Beverly went on a 12-2 run. They then scored 17 of the first 18 points in the second quarter to go up, 41-12, and never looked back.
Peabody’s best quarter was the third when it scored 20 points, more than the first half combined.
“We have a great group who never gave up and kept working hard. They were able to go back-and-forth there with Beverly; it was just too little too late by that point,” said Broughton, who was also able to get all of his healthy players into the contest. “But I’m proud of the effort. It shows us coaches the future is bright.”
Tolentino, a senior guard and captain, had a team-high 10 points for Peabody, with classmates Miguel Maria and Aggaest Kalombo adding nine and seven points, respectively. Captain Jimmy Festa made a name for himself in the paint, too, boxing out well, pulling down rebounds and putting in a pair of putbacks. Stephen Brown drew praise for his defense as well.
Beverly 77, Peabody 41
at Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse, Peabody
BEVERLY: Jacob Klass 12-4-32, Will Ryan 3-2-9, Eli Landman 0-0-0, Danny Pierce 4-2-11, Ehioze Okhuozagbon 0-0-0, Liam Timpone 2-0-4, Andrew Braganca 1-0-2, Jackson Ulrich 1-1-3, Benjamin Doughty 1-0-3, Isaac Saas 1-1-3, Gabriewl Djebreil Jean El Hachemi 2-1-5, Constantin Panda 2-0-5. Totals 29-11-77.
PEABODY: Miguel Maria 2-4-9, Jariel Tolentino 4-2-10, Mark Mendonca 1-0-3, Justin Pais 0-1-1, Jimmy Festa 2-0-4, Dom Domenici 0-0-0, Stephen Brown 1-0-2, Jacob Crocker 0-0-0, Joseph Smith 0-0-0, Jeremiah Gerard 0-0-0, Steven Loris 0-0-0, Jason Houlden 0-0-0, Aggaest Kalombo 3-1-7, Thad Broughton 1-3-5. Totals 14-11-41.
HALFTIME: Beverly, 46-16.
THREE-POINTERS: B, Klass 4, Ryan, Doughty, Pierce, Djebril Jean El Hachemi; P, Maria, Mendonca.
RECORDS: B, 1-0; P, 0-1.